Alpha / Theta session length?

[Guest guest]

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha

Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also

my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

Hi Millie,The suggested time for an Alpha-Theta session is 30 minutes. JRFrom: millzone <millzone@...> Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 11:16:46 AMSubject: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

Hi Millie,The suggested time for an Alpha-Theta session is 30 minutes. JRFrom: millzone <millzone@...> Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 11:16:46 AMSubject: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

Hi Millie,The suggested time for an Alpha-Theta session is 30 minutes. JRFrom: millzone <millzone@...> Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 11:16:46 AMSubject: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

As its name says, an alpha-theta session should show at least one distinct "cross-over" forth and back. Alpha goes down, Theta comes up and vice versa. This can be seen in a trend graph of the amplitudes. A cross-over may happen already after say ten minutes or it happens later, depending on the preexperience of the client.

Uwe

[Guest guest]

Millie,I certainly can't answer your question, but please report back as to process and results, as I'm very interested in doing alpha-theta (and have begun on myself and my husband). (you're using Pete's design?) Was there something in that client's assessment that put you in the direction of alpha-theta? Thanks. (Oh I just did it for 20 minutes. Have zero idea about crossovers and other fancy things. Would LOVE to learn without spending the money to attend Soutar's workshop in Georgia)

LizOn Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 11:16 AM, millzone <millzone@...> wrote:

 

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

This thing of session length is something I´m very interested in and there are a

few aspects which one " must "

take into consideration because if the client switches off after a few minutes

of NF one does not know

what to do and some NF negative results are the result of session time.

So, there was some research in the 1990's which showed that attention periods

could run between 5 and

30 minutes. This could mean that 30 minutes, as pointed out below, may be a bit

too much for some people.

As far as childre are concerned, more than 11 minutes sessions are too much.

During my sessions I tend to do 10-15 minutes sessions for adults and 5-7

minutes sessions for children.

On the whole I do 2-> 15-20 minutes of NF for adults and 4-5-> 5-7 minutes for

children. Less early

on and raise the time.

Here is the summary of that research:

1. Biol Psychol. 1995 Feb;39(2-3):159-72.

Ultradian rhythms of reaction times in performance in vigilance tasks.

Conte S, Ferlazzo F, Renzi P.

Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy.

This study examined the presence of rhythmic fluctuations in vigilance tasks.

The

hypothesis was that individual attentional performance is subject to rhythmic

variation beyond a linear decrease over time. In the first study the reaction

times to an acoustic stimulus were recorded. The analysis of the individual

periodograms indicated a rhythm in attentional capacity with periods ranging

from

5 to 30 min. These findings indicate that considerable individual variation can

be accounted for by considering individual periodicity in performance. Although

marked individual differences between subjects are present, the rhythmic

fluctuations are stable within each subject and between experimental sessions.

2. Psychophysiology. 1992 Mar;29(2):207-17.

Electrodermal lability: individual differences affecting perceptual speed and

vigilance performance in 9 to 16 year-old children.

Sakai LM, Baker LA, Dawson ME.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Studies on adults have suggested that a deterioration in performance (within

session vigilance decrement) on a continuous performance task may be related to

individual differences in baseline levels of electrodermal activity

(electrodermal lability). This study investigated this relationship in 153

children, aged 9-16 years. A significant vigilance decrement was observed, as

indicated by average decreases in perceptual sensitivity (d') over an 11.5-min

time period. Although electrodermal labiles were overall more perceptually

sensitive than electrodermal stabiles, results did not support the premise that

the performance of stabiles decreases over time more than that of labiles.

Performance on other cognitive tasks, involving tests of perceptual speed

ability, did not appear to be highly related to vigilance performance. However

labiles were not only better able to sustain their attention, but also performed

better and faster on these cognitive tasks.

-------

Prof.Dr. Alvoeiro,Ph.D.(Hull,UK),C.Psychol.(BPS,UK)

2000-119 Santarem,

Portugal

Skype: jorge.alvoeiro

E-mail: jorge.alvoeiro@...

http://cienciacognitiva.planetaclix.pt/

________________________________

De: em nome de R.

Enviada: sáb 6/19/2010 17:34

Para:

Assunto: Re: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hi Millie,

The suggested time for an Alpha-Theta session is 30 minutes.

JR

________________________________

From: millzone <millzone@...>

Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 11:16:46 AM

Subject: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha

Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also

my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie

[Guest guest]

Hi ,Thank you for your comments, I really appreciate this type of sharing information and discussions.I've learned with Rae Tattenbaum and the EEG Spectrum guys (back in 2004) that when we use Alpha Theta training for peak performance in adults (my bad, 'cause I assumed the client was an adult) we should do it for 30 minutes to give their brain get into the "AT zone" which is the crossover of Theta over Alpha.As far as I know, there's not Alpha Theta training for children, because it would be more a LoBeta-Alpha training (I strongly do not recommended this kind of training in the back part of the brain in kids)I also agree that more minutes in any other type of training including training children, could be exhausting for

their brains.Best regards, JRFrom: Margoshes <drmargoshes@...> Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 6:22:45 PMSubject: Re: Alpha / Theta session length?

jorge,Would you say that alpha-theta training constituted "a vigilance task"?LizOn Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 3:47 PM, <jorge.alvoeiro@ vodafone. pt> wrote:

Hi all,

This thing of session length is something I´m very interested in and there are a few aspects which one "must"

take into consideration because if the client switches off after a few minutes of NF one does not know

what to do and some NF negative results are the result of session time.

So, there was some research in the 1990's which showed that attention periods could run between 5 and

30 minutes. This could mean that 30 minutes, as pointed out below, may be a bit too much for some people.

As far as childre are concerned, more than 11 minutes sessions are too much.

During my sessions I tend to do 10-15 minutes sessions for adults and 5-7 minutes sessions for children.

On the whole I do 2-> 15-20 minutes of NF for adults and 4-5-> 5-7 minutes for children. Less early

on and raise the time.

Here is the summary of that research:

1. Biol Psychol. 1995 Feb;39(2-3): 159-72.

Ultradian rhythms of reaction times in performance in vigilance tasks.

Conte S, Ferlazzo F, Renzi P.

Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, Italy.

This study examined the presence of rhythmic fluctuations in vigilance tasks. The

hypothesis was that individual attentional performance is subject to rhythmic

variation beyond a linear decrease over time. In the first study the reaction

times to an acoustic stimulus were recorded. The analysis of the individual

periodograms indicated a rhythm in attentional capacity with periods ranging from

5 to 30 min. These findings indicate that considerable individual variation can

be accounted for by considering individual periodicity in performance. Although

marked individual differences between subjects are present, the rhythmic

fluctuations are stable within each subject and between experimental sessions.

2. Psychophysiology. 1992 Mar;29(2):207- 17.

Electrodermal lability: individual differences affecting perceptual speed and

vigilance performance in 9 to 16 year-old children.

Sakai LM, Baker LA, Dawson ME.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Studies on adults have suggested that a deterioration in performance (within

session vigilance decrement) on a continuous performance task may be related to

individual differences in baseline levels of electrodermal activity

(electrodermal lability). This study investigated this relationship in 153

children, aged 9-16 years. A significant vigilance decrement was observed, as

indicated by average decreases in perceptual sensitivity (d') over an 11.5-min

time period. Although electrodermal labiles were overall more perceptually

sensitive than electrodermal stabiles, results did not support the premise that

the performance of stabiles decreases over time more than that of labiles.

Performance on other cognitive tasks, involving tests of perceptual speed

ability, did not appear to be highly related to vigilance performance. However

labiles were not only better able to sustain their attention, but also performed

better and faster on these cognitive tasks.

-------

Prof.Dr. Alvoeiro,Ph. D.(Hull,UK) ,C.Psychol. (BPS,UK)

2000-119 Santarem,

Portugal

Skype: jorge.alvoeiro

E-mail: jorge.alvoeiro@ vodafone. pt

http://cienciacognitiva.planetaclix.pt/

____________ _________ _________ __

De: em nome de R.

Enviada: sáb 6/19/2010 17:34

Para:

Assunto: Re: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hi Millie,

The suggested time for an Alpha-Theta session is 30 minutes.

JR

____________ _________ _________ __

From: millzone <millzonecox (DOT) net>

Sent: Sat, June 19, 2010 11:16:46 AM

Subject: Alpha / Theta session length?

Hello all,

I have a client who after 10 training sessions will be doing his first Alpha Theta session. The notes say to run session for 20-40 min. and since it is also my first A/T session, how do you know when to end the training?

Thanks,

Millie